how bad are rusty anchor chain links?

[mattonthesea]

+1 for Jonathan. I used mine in sandy bays and it cleaned beautifully. Then I end to ended it and cleaned that end apart from about 2m which was solid - cut off. The problem I discovered was mainly the rust had blocked the locker drain!! It's a strange set up where it goes through a pipe down to the shower bilge.

 

[Neeves]

I went to a local boat show last weekend where there were a number of recently commissioned yachts on display (we have exactly the same yacht builders as you do in the UK). I particularly look at ground tackle and windlass. I noted that one of the yachts had an anchor locker with the chain at the rear of the locker, piled higher at the aft section, leaving the forward section almost empty, Not quite empty - the drain hole for the locker (it looked to be about 10mm - 15mm diam) was about 100mm above the base of the locker and the bottom of the locker was empty - apart from the rather nasty looking puddle of water. In normal circumstances you would not see the water - the chain would deploy more evenly and the 'bitter' end would sit in this puddle. I cannot comment about adding a new and lower drain hole but I might suggest raising the locker floor so that the chain had free circulation of air and could drain.

Personally I thought the drain hole a 'design flaw', the locker should drain 'dry'. But there may be other reasons, of which I am totally ignorant, necessitating what I saw.

But once you are losing gal, which if you use your chain is inevitable - then storing in a wet locker is a recipe for corrosion. In many respects a chain locker is the worst place to keep the chain (confined, damp, full of salt) but its the only option - but keeping the locker as clean and dry as possible will reap dividends. As anyone who has replaced chain knows - chain is not cheap!

We have an open type door mat, lots of holes, in the base of our locker. The chain can sit on the mat, I can play a hose over the chain, the water drains through and under the mat. Our locker has 2 drain holes that I check for being free of seaweed etc. Its not perfect but as good as I have thought of so far.

Jonathan

 

[[2574]]

We have an open type door mat, lots of holes, in the base of our locker. The chain can sit on the mat, I can play a hose over the chain, the water drains through and under the mat. Our locker has 2 drain holes that I check for being free of seaweed etc. Its not perfect but as good as I have thought of so far.

Jonathan

The previous owner of our boat did very few good things to her but one of the few was making a "decking" from a criss-cross of pontoon planks which were laid in the bottom of the chain locker. Consequently the chain always rests above any residual locker water. We also swill the chain and locker with fresh water at every opportunity.